The Council for Public Consultations to the Committee on European Affairs and Oversight of the European Funds held its third session on 28th September 2010. The meeting was inaugurated by Ms. Tsetska Tsatcheva – President of the National Assembly. Ms. Tsatcheva stipulated that the perspective for Bulgaria for the next 10 years should be drawn up not only by the politicians, but also with the active participation of the civil society. Ms. Tsatcheva pointed out the leading role of the Council for Public Consultations in defining and representing the views and concerns of the civil society and the NGO sector.
The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance - Mr. Simeon Dyankov presented the Bulgarian priorities for the next 10 years: to create a better infrastructure, competitive youth, the most competitive business environment within the EU and to achieve higher confidence in the work of the public administration.
The Chairwoman of the Committee, Ms. Monika Panayotova also used the opportunity to address the members of the Council. She emphasized on the importance of the partnership approach which should be the key factor for the successful realization of the Bulgarian vision within the EU 2020 context. In this context, Ms. Panayotova expressed the importance of being politically unbiased in order to achieve the objectives of the Bulgaria 2020 Strategy. It is crucial to maintain the dialogue between the stakeholders, so that the effect be multiplied. Ms. Panayotova pointed out the need to foster a discussion on the priorities for the next Programming period 2014-2020 in the context of the EU 2020 Strategy. She stressed out the importance of proper targeting and prioritization of objectives in order to avoid the shortcomings of the 2007-2013 programming period.
After the session, all suggestions of the members of the Council, which were expressed in the course of the discussion, were presented to the attention of the Minister of Finance to be taken into account during the monitoring mission of the European Commission, held on 6-7th October. The aim of the mission would be to monitor the Bulgarian indicators set out in the National Reform Programme.